May 18, 2020

Behaviors and Attitudes in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Insights from a Cross-National Facebook Survey

Category: Article Summary

Topic: Public Health Policy and Practice

• Perrotta et al. present information about attitudes and behaviors related to COVID-19 from a rapid response monitoring system that recruited participants via targeted Facebook advertisement campaigns from March 13-April 19, 2020 across eight countries.  
• Women expressed a higher perception of threat and lower confidence in the health system. Women were also more likely to adopt preventive behaviors.  
• Older people demonstrated a higher level of awareness and concern about COVID-19, in line with the evidence that the elderly are at highest risk of severe complications following infection from COVID-19.  
• Substantial temporal and spatial heterogeneity exists in terms of confidence in institutions and responses to non-pharmaceutical interventions. 

Perrotta et al. (May 15, 2020). Behaviors and Attitudes in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Insights from a Cross-National Facebook Survey. Pre-print downloaded May 18 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.09.20096388